Takes and trash talk from both ALL sides of the NHL's most obscure PATHETIC* rivalry

* Thanks, Kevin Lowe!

Friday, July 28, 2006

Bad news for me and the other 2 guys with Vishnevski jerseys

After the arbiter awarded Vitaly Vishnevski a 1-year, $1.55 M deal (actually better than I'd feared), TSN reports that the Ducks are considering two options:

"Sources tell TSN that the Ducks are actively trying to trade him. If there are no takers, Anaheim may walk away from the award."

This is Anaheim's only arbitration case, so 'walking away' needs to happen within the next 48 hours or so.

As a Vish fan, the infuriating thing about this news is that it really does make 'GM sense', considering the salary and on-ice structure the Ducks have projected.

You see, the reason why Scott Niedermayer or Chris Pronger can afford to make a combined $13M is not so much in their own ability to play defense, but the fact that they can be paired with a minimum-wage rookie, a la Francois Beauchemin, still locked into a $500k contract. Paying a top pair $7.25M isn't bad, or a top four cost of $14M is workable also (considering the cheapness of young forwards). You don't want to pay a player more than minimum because essentially, you don't need to pay a player more. You've got baby-sitters.

As a GM, it makes sense. As a Vish fan, it kills me.

And that's the downside to 'winning' the Pronger deal. A guy I've disliked most of his career comes in to supplant the guy I've rooted for all his career.
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On a separate note, it looks like the Ducks are going to clean up on their jersey sales, that is if you had a jersey for Selanne, Penner, Perry, Getzlaf, Chistov (all changed numbers), Lupul, Salei, or Vishnevski; they are no longer current.

Last year (lockout included) the list includes jerseys for Rucchin, Leclerc, Fedorov, Sykora, Ozolinsh, Carney, Prospal, Havelid, and Sauer.

Pretty much everyone in Anaheim needs a new jersey, and by the way, we got new colors, too.

Just in case you were a Giguere fan.
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On a last, stupid note. I hate calling it our 'new jersey', even though that's exactly what it is.

That's like Edmonton fans getting a 'carolina' or Calgary fans getting a 'tampa bay'.

Can't we find a name for this thing that isn't so G7 painful?

4 comments:

Sean Zandberg said...

Geez, your news regarding Vitaly today went from good to suddenly crappy. Too bad the Nucks are so financially strapped....sigh.
Think he'll go to Edmonton?

Earl Sleek said...

Don't tell O'Brien, but I am hoping he goes to the Kings. The Vishnevski-Visnovsky dream pairing could finally happen!

Ah, but I suspect:
a) we'll package Vish with a goalie, so that limits his options, or b) we'll walk away, which will make him a ufa.

PronGrrrrrr.

Ingmar "W" Bergman said...

On a last, stupid note. I hate calling it our 'new jersey', even though that's exactly what it is.

That's like Edmonton fans getting a 'carolina' or Calgary fans getting a 'tampa bay'.


Hahaha! Priceless! Quote of the week!

Robert L said...

How about Duck gear or Elmer Fudd duds?